Gaze detection apparatus and congestion control method thereof

ABSTRACT

A gaze detection apparatus of the present invention may include an infrared LED of emitting infrared light, an infrared camera of photographing eyes of a driver based on light which is reflected from the eyes of the driver by the infrared light emitted from the infrared LED, and a gaze detection unit of determining whether the driver gazes the infrared camera based on an image of the eyes photographed by the infrared camera, and at least one of the infrared LED and the infrared camera is installed on each of a plurality of vehicle-mounted devices, and operates to emit the infrared light to the driver from each vehicle-mounted device, photograph the driver within a corresponding light emission period, and detect whether the driver gazes based on photographed information, and the vehicle-mounted devices are under a congestion control so that the light emission periods of the infrared light emitted therefrom are not overlapped with each other.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

The present application claims priority to Japanese Patent ApplicationNo. 2018-190216 filed on Oct. 5, 2018, the entire contents of which isincorporated herein for all purposes by this reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE PRESENT INVENTION Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a gaze detection apparatus and acongestion control method of the gaze detection apparatus, and moreparticularly, to a gaze detection apparatus capable of reliablydetecting that a driver has gazed a vehicle-mounted device, and acongestion control method in which infrared light emission periods of aplurality of vehicle-mounted devices can be controlled in order not tooverlap each other.

Description of Related Art

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example in which a monitor camera isinstalled in a front of the driver seat in the related art.Conventionally, a monitor camera 48 is installed in the front of thedriver seat, and the face of a driver 50 in a photographing range 49 isphotographed to trace the pupil movement of the eye, determining wherethe driver gazes. However, as illustrated in FIG. 7, in the case wherethe vehicle-mounted device is mounted at the left side or the right sideof the driver seat, the pupil of the driver's eye does not necessarilygaze the front in determining which vehicle-mounted device the driver 50gazes, such that it is difficult to determine it.

For example, when the driver of a right handle sees the left and rightdoor mirrors, the line of sight toward the right door mirror and theline of sight toward the left door mirror have an angle of about 140degrees when viewed from the plane, and it is difficult to detect theangle of the line of sight in one monitor camera, such that severalcameras are needed. Furthermore, there may be a method for displaying acontrol panel of the vehicle-mounted device gazed by the driver on adisplay screen of the front of the driver seat, and instructing by thedriver operating a touch panel, etc., but for the present purpose, it isnecessary to wire the function of the control panel of eachvehicle-mounted vehicle to a position of the display screen via thecommunication line of a Controller Area Network (CAN).

As an example of the vehicle-mounted device, an internal lamp isinstalled on a roof of the vehicle, and at the present time, a switchfor turning on and off the light may be provided, but the switch is in aposition difficult to reach by a driver. Furthermore, although an audiodevice can provide an operation panel at the front of the driver seat,it is necessary to extend and operate the hands for volume up and down.Although an operation panel of a cooling and heating device may be alsoprovided at the front of the driver seat, it is necessary to extend andoperate the hands when it is desired to lower the temperature, etc. Thesimple operation such as turning on or off the internal lamp may beinstructed by the driver without using the hand while sitting.

The information disclosed in this Background of the Invention section isonly for enhancement of understanding of the general background of theinvention and may not be taken as an acknowledgement or any form ofsuggestion that this information forms the prior art already known to aperson skilled in the art.

BRIEF SUMMARY

Various aspects of the present invention are directed to providing agaze detection apparatus and a congestion control method thereof, whichcan reliably detect that a driver has gazed a vehicle-mounted device.

In various aspect of the present invention, a gaze detection apparatusmay include an infrared LED of emitting infrared light, an infraredcamera of photographing eyes of a driver based on light which isreflected from the eyes of the driver by the infrared light emitted fromthe infrared LED, and a gaze detection unit of determining when thedriver gazes the infrared camera based on an image of the eyesphotographed by the infrared camera, wherein at least one of theinfrared LED and the infrared camera among components of the gazedetection apparatus is installed on each of a plurality ofvehicle-mounted devices, wherein the gaze detection apparatus isconfigured to emit the infrared light to the driver, to photograph thedriver within a corresponding light emission period, and to detect whenthe driver gazes based on photographed information, and wherein the gazedetection apparatus is under a congestion control so that light emissionperiods of the infrared light emitted from the plurality ofvehicle-mounted devices are not overlapped with each other.

In various aspect of the present invention, the gaze detection apparatusis configured to store camera IDs and a total number of the infraredcamera mounted in the plurality of vehicle-mounted devices, wherein,under the congestion control, an infrared LED corresponding to aninfrared camera whose camera ID is zero is controlled to emit theinfrared light for photographing for a first predetermined time periodafter emitting a synchronization signal, and then to stop the lightemission for a time corresponding to the total number of the infraredcamera mounted in the plurality of vehicle-mounted devices, and wherein,under the congestion control, an infrared LED except the infrared LEDcorresponding to the infrared camera whose camera ID is zero, among theinfrared LEDs installed on the plurality of vehicle-mounted devices, iscontrolled to stop light emission of the infrared light for a timecorresponding to the camera ID thereof after receiving thesynchronization signal, and then to emit the infrared light for a secondpredetermined time period.

In various aspect of the present invention, the gaze detection apparatusmay further include a blinking detection unit of detecting blinking ofat least one of the driver's eyes in a response that the gaze detectionunit detects the driver's gaze, wherein an operation of the plurality ofvehicle-mounted devices is controlled corresponding to the blinkingdetected by the blinking detection unit.

In various aspect of the present invention, the blinking of the at leastone of the driver's eyes may include a right eye blinking and a left eyeblinking.

In various aspect of the present invention, at least one of theplurality of vehicle-mounted devices is an illumination device, and isconfigured to turn on or off a light lamp of a vehicle corresponding tothe right eye blinking and the left eye blinking of the driver.

In various aspect of the present invention, at least one of theplurality of vehicle-mounted devices is an audio device, and isconfigured to adjust a volume corresponding to the right eye blinkingand the left eye blinking of the driver.

In various aspect of the present invention, at least one of theplurality of vehicle-mounted devices is a cooling and heating device,and is configured to adjust an internal temperature of a vehiclecorresponding to the right eye blinking and the left eye blinking of thedriver.

In various aspect of the present invention, a congestion control methodof a gaze detection apparatus, wherein the gaze detection apparatusincludes an infrared LED of emitting infrared light, an infrared cameraof photographing eyes of a driver based on light which is reflected fromthe eyes of the driver by the infrared light emitted from the infraredLED, and a gaze detection unit of determining when the driver gazes theinfrared camera based on an image of the eyes photographed by theinfrared camera, and wherein at least one of the infrared LED and theinfrared camera among components of the gaze detection apparatus isinstalled on each of a plurality of vehicle-mounted devices, may includecontrolling an infrared LED corresponding to an infrared camera whosecamera ID is zero, among the infrared LEDs installed on the plurality ofvehicle-mounted devices, to emit the infrared light for photographingfor a first predetermined time period after emitting a synchronizationsignal, and then to stop the light emission for a time corresponding toa total number of the infrared camera mounted in the plurality ofvehicle-mounted devices, and controlling an infrared LED except theinfrared LED corresponding to the infrared camera whose camera ID iszero, among the infrared LEDs installed on the plurality ofvehicle-mounted devices, to stop light emission of the infrared lightfor a time corresponding to the camera ID thereof after receiving thesynchronization signal, and then to emit the infrared light for a secondpredetermined time period, wherein infrared light emission periods ofthe plurality of vehicle-mounted devices are controlled not to beoverlapped with each other.

According to the gaze detection apparatus of the present invention, itis possible to have the gaze detection apparatus on each of theplurality of vehicle-mounted devices, and to have the gaze detectionunit of determining whether the driver gazes the emitted infrared cameraof the vehicle-mounted device based on the image of the eye photographedby the infrared LED and the infrared camera of the gaze detectionapparatus, reliably detecting the driver's gaze. Even if eachvehicle-mount device is installed in the left and right directions ofthe driver, the vehicle-mounted device can detect what is being gazedfrom the image on the front of the driver, and can reliably detect it ascompared with the conventional method for detecting the line of sightwith one monitor camera.

Furthermore, it is possible to perform the congestion control so thatthe light emission periods of the infrared light of the plurality ofvehicle-mounted devices are not overlapped with each other, preventingthe light emission of the infrared light from being overlapped betweenthe vehicle-mounted devices, and preventing the light from beingexcessively illuminated due to the light emission of anothervehicle-mounted device upon photographing.

The congestion control can operate so that the gaze detection unit isconfigured to store the camera IDs and the total number of the infraredcameras, and the infrared LED corresponding to the infrared camera whosecamera ID is zero emits the infrared light for photographing for apredetermined time after emitting the synchronization signal, and then,stops the light emission of for the time corresponding to the totalnumber of the infrared cameras, while an infrared LED other than theinfrared LED corresponding to the infrared camera whose camera ID iszero, stops the light emission of the infrared light for the timecorresponding to the camera ID thereof after receiving thesynchronization signal, and then emits the infrared light for apredetermined time period, preventing the light emission of the infraredlight from being overlapped between the vehicle-mounted devices.

The present invention can further include the blinking detection unit,and the blinking detection unit can detect blinking of at least one ofthe driver's eyes when the gaze detection unit has detected the driver'sgaze so that the operation unit controls the operation of thevehicle-mounted device corresponding to the detected blinking,controlling the vehicle-mounted device with the eye. The control may beperformed after confirming the driver's gaze, preventing the driver fromoperating by mistake.

The internal light may be turned on or off by the right eye and left eyeblinking of the driver, such that it is not necessary to take off thehand from the handle, and it is possible for the driver to easilyinstruct.

The volume adjustment of the audio device is performed by the right eyeand left eye blinking of the driver, such that it is not necessary totake off the hand from the handle, and it is possible for the driver toeasily instruct.

The temperature of the cooling and heating device is adjusted by theright eye and left eye blinking of the driver, such that it is notnecessary to takeoff the hand from the handle, and it is possible forthe driver to easily instruct.

According to the congestion control method of the gaze detectionapparatus of the present invention, the congestion control method hasoperating so that an infrared LED corresponding to an infrared camerawhose camera ID is zero emits the infrared light for photographing for apredetermined time after emitting the synchronization signal, and thenstops the light emission for the time corresponding to the total numberof the infrared cameras, and operating so that an infrared LED otherthan the infrared LED corresponding to the infrared camera whose cameraID is zero, among the infrared LEDs installed on the plurality ofvehicle-mounted devices stops the light emission of the infrared lightfor the time corresponding to the camera ID thereof after receiving thesynchronization signal, and then emits the infrared light for apredetermined time period, preventing the light emission of the infraredlight from being overlapped between the vehicle-mounted devices.

It is understood that the term “vehicle” or “vehicular” or other similarterm as used herein is inclusive of motor vehicles in general such aspassenger vehicles including sports utility vehicles (SUV), buses,trucks, various commercial vehicles, watercraft including a variety ofboats and ships, aircraft, and the like, and may include hybridvehicles, electric vehicles, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles,hydrogen-powered vehicles and other alternative fuel vehicles (e.g.,fuels derived from resources other than petroleum). As referred toherein, a hybrid vehicle is a vehicle that has two or more sources ofpower, for example both gasoline-powered and electric-powered vehicles.

The above and other features of the disclosure are discussed infra.

The methods and apparatuses of the present invention have other featuresand advantages which will be apparent from or are set forth in moredetail in the accompanying drawings, which are incorporated herein, andthe following Detailed Description, which together serve to explaincertain principles of the present invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other features of the present invention will now bedescribed illustrated of illustration only, and thus are not limitativeof the present invention.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example in which a vehicle-mounteddevice mounting a gaze detection apparatus according to an exemplaryembodiment of the present invention is installed in plural.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of the gaze detectionapparatus.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of the image that a drivergazes an infrared camera of the vehicle-mounted device, and the imagenot gazing the infrared camera of the vehicle-mounted device.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of the vehicle-mounteddevice installed at another position of a vehicle interior.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating the light emission period and lightemission stop period of the infrared light of each vehicle-mounteddevice.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example in which a conventionalmonitor camera has been installed in the front of a driver seat.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of the image photographed bythe conventional monitor camera.

It should be understood that the appended drawings are not necessarilyto scale, presenting a somewhat simplified representation of variousexemplary features illustrative of the basic principles of thedisclosure. The specific design features of the present invention asdisclosed herein, including, for example, specific dimensions,orientations, locations, and shapes will be determined in section by theparticular intended application and use environment.

In the drawings, reference numbers refer to the same or equivalentsections of the present invention throughout the several figures of thedrawing.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Reference will now be made in detail to various embodiments of thepresent invention(s), examples of which are illustrated in theaccompanying drawings and described below. While the presentinvention(s) will be described in conjunction with exemplary embodimentsof the present invention, it will be understood that the presentdescription is not intended to limit the present invention(s) to thoseexemplary embodiments. On the other hand, the present invention(s)is/are intended to cover not only the exemplary embodiments of thepresent invention, but also various alternatives, modifications,equivalents and other embodiments, which may be included within thespirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the appendedclaims.

Hereinafter, a gaze detection apparatus and a congestion control methodof the gaze detection apparatus of the present invention will bedescribed with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Embodiment

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example in which a vehicle-mounteddevice 100 mounting a gaze detection apparatus 10 according to anexemplary embodiment of the present invention is installed in plural. Inthe drawing, the vehicle-mounted device 100 is indicated as avehicle-mounted device A, a vehicle-mounted device B, and avehicle-mounted device C, respectively. Herein, although the examplesusing the vehicle-mounted devices A to C, that is, three vehicle-mounteddevices are described, the number of vehicle-mounted devices is notlimited thereto. As a specific example, the vehicle-mounted device A maybe used as an internal lamp, the vehicle-mounted device B may be used asan audio device, and the vehicle-mounted device C may be used as acooling and heating device. Each vehicle-mounted device is provided withthe gaze detection apparatus 10 including an infrared LED 1 and aninfrared camera 2. That is, the infrared camera 2 is mounted on thevehicle-mounted device 100, and the fact that the driver is gazing theinfrared camera 2 of the vehicle-mounted device 100 is detected from theimage photographed by use of the infrared camera 2.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating the relationship between the gazedetection apparatus 10 and the vehicle-mounted device 100. The gazedetection apparatus 10 includes the infrared LED 1, the infrared camera2, a gaze detection unit 3, a control unit 5, a synchronizing signaldetection unit 11, a light emission control unit 12, and a blinkingdetection unit 4. Furthermore, the vehicle-mounted device 100 has anoperation unit 13 for performing a control of the apparatus main body.When infrared light is emitted from the infrared LED 1, the emittedinfrared light is reflected by the retina of the eyes of the driver 50and is photographed by the infrared camera 2. As described above, theeye is photographed by the infrared camera 2, and the pupil position ofthe eye may be confirmed by the image processing. Furthermore, the gazedetection apparatus 10 includes the gaze detection unit 3 fordetermining whether the driver 50 gazes the infrared camera 2. Theinfrared light emitted from the infrared LED 1 may be reflected by theretina of the eyes of the driver 50 and is photographed, easilydetermining whether to gaze the vehicle-mounted device 100. Furthermore,the blinking detection unit 4 detects the eye state of the driver,particularly, the motion of the eyelids. The operation unit 13determines that an operation of the vehicle-mounted device 100 isinstructed from the eyelid movement of the driver 50 to operate thetarget portion of the vehicle-mounted device 100. The light emissioncontrol unit 12 is configured to emit light for a predetermined timefrom the timer as it is controlled by the control unit 5. The lightemission of the infrared light is synchronized by the synchronizingsignal detection unit 11 so that each vehicle-mounted device does notemit light at the same time, and the light is emitted after apredetermined time has elapsed.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of the image that a driver50 gazes an infrared camera 2 of the vehicle-mounted device 100, and theimage not gazing the infrared camera of the vehicle-mounted device. ┌ON┘indicates the case where the eyes gaze the infrared camera 2 from theimage of the driver's face, and ┌OFF┘ indicates the case where the eyesdo not gaze the infrared camera 2.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of the vehicle-mounteddevice 100 mounted in a vehicle interior. A white square becomes aposition of the infrared camera 2. The following operations may beperformed. A left side door mirror 21 and a right side door mirror 22can adjust an angle of the mirror. A cooling and heating device 24performs up or down of the interior temperature. An audio device 23performs up or down of the volume. A rear view mirror (i.e., a roommirror) 25 also performs the angle adjustment. An interior light 26 isturned on or off. A meter display luminance 27 increases the displayluminance of the meter, and the energy may be saved by lowering theluminance. An illumination luminance 28 of a steering switch performs aluminance control. A window opening/closing button 29 lifts or drops thewindow. An automatic operation button 30 starts and ends automaticoperation. Furthermore, a monitoring camera 31 provided on a meter hoodperforms driver monitoring, and warns when it is detected that thedriver is operating while looking away for several seconds. Since theturning-on or off of the internal lamp, the volume-up or down of theaudio device, or the temperature adjustment of the cooling and heatingdevice 24 is frequently used, it is very suitable as an object to beadjusted by the eye blinking. For example, the right eye blinkinginstructs UP, and the left eye blinking instructs DOWN. Furthermore,since an instruction may be performed with the eyes, a communicationline is unnecessary.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating the light emission period and the lightemission stop period of the infrared light of each vehicle-mounteddevice. The vertical axis is three of the vehicle-mounted device A, thevehicle-mounted device B, and the vehicle-mounted device C. Thehorizontal axis is a time. Each of the vehicle-mounted devices A to Cmay be provided with the gaze detection apparatus 10. Thevehicle-mounted devices A to C repeatedly perform the light emission andthe light emission stop of the infrared light. As illustrated in FIG. 5,a light emission period 8 a of the vehicle-mounted device A, a lightemission period 8 b of the vehicle-mounted device B, and a lightemission period 8 c of the vehicle-mounted device C are controlled inorder not to overlap each other. Herein, it may be set that thevehicle-mounted device A is a parent device and the vehicle-mounteddevice A has the control right to perform the synchronous control. Asynchronizing signal 6 includes a 10-bit signal. One bit may be set to800 μs. At the instant time, 10 bits are 8 ms (=800 μs×10). When thelight emission period 8 is 20 ms, the time during which the lightemission of the vehicle-mounted devices A to C becomes one round isabout 68 ms (=20 ms×3+8 ms). When the light has been emitted, the faceof the driver 50 is photographed by the emitted infrared camera 2 of thevehicle-mounted device, such that each vehicle-mounted device observesthe face of the driver at one-time interval of 68 ms.

As such, the gaze detection apparatus 10 according to an exemplaryembodiment of present invention may be applied to a plurality ofvehicle-mounted devices 100, and at the instant time, the entirecomponent of the gaze detection apparatus 10 may be identicallyinstalled for each of the plurality of vehicle-mounted devices 100, oronly some of the components of the gaze detection apparatus 10 may beidentically installed on the plurality of vehicle-mounted devices 100.

That is, when the gaze detection apparatus 10 is installed on andapplied to each vehicle-mounted device 100, the entire component of thegaze detection apparatus 10 can also be identically installed for eachof the vehicle-mounted devices 100, but some of the components of thegaze detection apparatus 10 are identically installed for each of thevehicle-mounted devices 100, and at the instant time, the remainder ofthe components can also be mounted in a predetermined one position inthe vehicle in a form of a common element having integrated functions.

For example, although the infrared LED 1 and the infrared camera 2 areall installed on each of the vehicle-mounted devices 100, the gazedetection unit 3 need not be installed at a plurality of positions, andmay be installed at one place in the vehicle so that all of thevehicle-mounted devices 100 to which the gaze detection apparatus 10 inan exemplary embodiment of the present invention is applied may becommonly used to perform the integrated functions in an integrated form,and at the instant time, the gaze detection unit 3 may be provided at ahead unit of the vehicle.

That is, the head unit of the vehicle can serve as the gaze detectionunit 3.

Meanwhile, as illustrated in FIG. 5, the synchronizing signal 6 has anupper 6 bits which is a header, and has a predetermined bit pattern. Thenext three bits are a code of the camera ID, for example, eight from 000to 111 may be used. The number of bits of the camera ID may be increasedcorresponding to the number of vehicle-mounted devices. In an exemplaryembodiment of the present invention, the camera ID of thevehicle-mounted device A may be set to 000, the camera ID of thevehicle-mounted device B may be set to 001, and the camera ID of thevehicle-mounted device C may be set to 010. Furthermore, thevehicle-mounted device A whose camera ID is 000 may be provided as aparent and perform a synchronization control. The next one bit is a stopbit and indicates the end of the synchronization signal. The gazedetection units of vehicle-mounted devices A to C store the code of itscamera ID and the total number of the infrared cameras 2 installed inthe vehicle in the non-volatile memory. At the instant time, the totalnumber thereof is stored as 2 (total number−1) when there are three ofthe vehicles-mounted devices.

As illustrated in FIG. 5, the synchronizing signal 6 is emitted from thevehicle-mounted device A as infrared light. The vehicle-mounted devicesB, C detect the synchronizing signal 6 from the synchronizing signaldetection unit 11 in FIG. 2. When detecting the synchronizing signal 6,the vehicle-mounted device B stops the light emission of the infraredlight only for 20 ms. This is indicated by the light emission stopperiod 9 b in FIG. 5. Thereafter, the light emission is performed for 20ms. When detecting the synchronizing signal 6, the vehicle-mounteddevice C stops the light emission of the infrared light only for 40 ms.This is indicated by the light emission stop period 9 c in FIG. 5.Thereafter, the light emission is performed for 20 ms. Thevehicle-mounted device A emits light only for 20 ms after emitting thesynchronizing signal 6, and then stops the light emission of theinfrared light for 40 ms. At the instant time, the entire time forstopping the light emission is controlled based on the total numberstored in the memory. This is indicated by the light emission stopperiod 9 a in FIG. 5. Thereafter, the synchronizing signal 6 is againemitted. Therefore, the light emission of the infrared light is notoverlapped with each other in the vehicle-mounted devices A to C. Forthe light emission of 20 ms, the driver's eye may be photographed and anexposure time may be sufficiently taken.

In the instant case, one vehicle-mounted device 100 can observe thedriver's face at one time interval of 68 ms, such that the motion of theeyelids may be detected. The blinking (winking) is performed in a veryshort time, but when the driver gazes the vehicle-mounted device, theblinking may be detected by observing the opening and closing of theeyelid. When it is desired to increase the type of operation, forexample, a gesture of a hand may be added.

The present invention is well suitable for the gaze detection apparatusor the congestion control method of the gaze detection apparatusconfigured for reliably detecting that the driver gazes thevehicle-mounted device.

For convenience in explanation and accurate definition in the appendedclaims, the terms “upper”, “lower”, “inner”, “outer”, “up”, “down”,“upwards”, “downwards”, “front”, “rear”, “back”, “inside”, “outside”,“inwardly”, “outwardly”, “internal”, “external”, “inner”, “outer”,“forwards”, and “backwards” are used to describe features of theexemplary embodiments with reference to the positions of such featuresas displayed in the figures. It will be further understood that the term“connect” or its derivatives refer both to direct and indirectconnection.

The foregoing descriptions of specific exemplary embodiments of thepresent invention have been presented for purposes of illustration anddescription. They are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit thepresent invention to the precise forms disclosed, and obviously manymodifications and variations are possible in light of the aboveteachings. The exemplary embodiments were chosen and described toexplain certain principles of the present invention and their practicalapplication, to enable others skilled in the art to make and utilizevarious exemplary embodiments of the present invention, as well asvarious alternatives and modifications thereof. It is intended that thescope of the present invention be defined by the Claims appended heretoand their equivalents.

What is claimed is:
 1. A gaze detection apparatus comprising: aninfrared LED of emitting infrared light; an infrared camera ofphotographing eyes of a driver based on light which is reflected fromthe eyes of the driver by the infrared light emitted from the infraredLED; and a gaze detection unit of determining when the driver gazes theinfrared camera based on an image of the eyes photographed by theinfrared camera, wherein at least one of the infrared LED and theinfrared camera among components of the gaze detection apparatus isinstalled on each of a plurality of vehicle-mounted devices, wherein thegaze detection apparatus is configured: to emit the infrared light tothe driver, to photograph the driver within a corresponding lightemission period, and to detect when the driver gazes based onphotographed information, to be under a congestion control so that lightemission periods of the infrared light emitted from the plurality ofvehicle-mounted devices are not overlapped with each other; to storecamera IDs and a total number n of the infrared camera mounted in theplurality of vehicle-mounted devices, the camera IDs being numberedconsecutively from zero to the total number n of the infrared cameramounted in the plurality of vehicle-mounted devices, wherein the n is apositive integer greater than 2, wherein, under the congestion control,an infrared LED corresponding to an infrared camera whose camera ID iszero is controlled to emit the infrared light for photographing for anemission time period after emitting a synchronization signal for asynchronization time period, and then to stop the light emission for afirst stop time calculated by multiplying the emission time period by anumber one less than the n, and wherein, under the congestion control,each infrared LED except the infrared LED corresponding to the infraredcamera whose camera ID is zero, among the infrared LEDs installed on theplurality of vehicle-mounted devices, is controlled to stop lightemission of the infrared light for a second stop time obtained bymultiplying each camera ID thereof by the emission time period afterreceiving the synchronization signal, then to emit the infrared lightfor the emission time period, and then to stop the light emission. 2.The gaze detection apparatus of claim 1, further including: a blinkingdetection unit of detecting blinking of at least one of the driver'seyes in a response that the gaze detection unit detects the driver'sgaze, wherein an operation of the plurality of vehicle-mounted devicesis controlled corresponding to the blinking detected by the blinkingdetection unit.
 3. The gaze detection apparatus of claim 2, wherein theblinking of the at least one of the driver's eyes includes a right eyeblinking and a left eye blinking, and wherein at least one of theplurality of vehicle-mounted devices is an illumination device, and isconfigured to turn on or off a light lamp of a vehicle corresponding tothe right eye blinking and the left eye blinking of the driver.
 4. Thegaze detection apparatus of claim 2, wherein the blinking of the atleast one of the driver's eyes includes a right eye blinking and a lefteye blinking, and wherein at least one of the plurality ofvehicle-mounted devices is an audio device, and is configured to adjusta volume corresponding to the right eye blinking and the left eyeblinking of the driver.
 5. The gaze detection apparatus of claim 2,wherein the blinking of the at least one of the driver's eyes includes aright eye blinking and a left eye blinking, and wherein at least one ofthe plurality of vehicle-mounted devices is a cooling and heatingdevice, and is configured to adjust an internal temperature of a vehiclecorresponding to the right eye blinking and the left eye blinking of thedriver.
 6. A congestion control method of a gaze detection apparatus,the gaze detection apparatus including an infrared LED of emittinginfrared light, an infrared camera of photographing eyes of a driverbased on light which is reflected from the eyes of the driver by theinfrared light emitted from the infrared LED, and a gaze detection unitof determining when the driver gazes the infrared camera based on animage of the eyes photographed by the infrared camera, wherein at leastone of the infrared LED and the infrared camera among components of thegaze detection apparatus is installed on each of a plurality ofvehicle-mounted devices, the gaze detection apparatus being configuredto store camera IDs and a total number n of the infrared camera mountedin the plurality of vehicle-mounted devices, the camera IDs beingnumbered consecutively from zero to the total number n of the infraredcamera mounted in the plurality of vehicle-mounted devices, wherein then is a positive integer greater than 2, the congestion control methodcomprising: controlling an infrared LED corresponding to an infraredcamera whose camera ID is zero, among the infrared LEDs installed on theplurality of vehicle-mounted devices, to emit the infrared light forphotographing for an emission time period after emitting asynchronization signal for a synchronization time period, and then tostop the light emission for a first stop time calculated by multiplyingthe emission time period by a number one less than the n; andcontrolling each infrared LED except the infrared LED corresponding tothe infrared camera whose camera ID is zero, among the infrared LEDsinstalled on the plurality of vehicle-mounted devices to stop lightemission of the infrared light for a second time obtained by multiplyingeach camera ID thereof by the emission time period after receiving thesynchronization signal, then to emit the infrared light for the emissiontime period and then to stop the light emission, wherein infrared lightemission periods of the plurality of vehicle-mounted devices arecontrolled not to be overlapped with each other.